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If you say so. I vaguely recall some issues with that but I have not tried it in quite some time.

I do wonder why the OP cannot simply avoid modes that use the height channels.

Perhaps I need to think this through some more. The height channels are driven by the SpeakerCraft amp which sucks some power and gets fairly hot. The amp is brought out of STANDBY using one of the 8801's triggers. Avoiding modes that use the height channels will kill the height channel outputs of the 8801 but the trigger will still turn on the amp... unless I use the amp's auto sensing instead of the trigger input. Duh!!! I'll give this a try.

Do height and wide matrixed channels really add anything? I've never been a fan of extra DSP. If it isnt discrete, I dont mess with it, am I missing out?

It is purely personal preference. I was running a full 11.1 configuration prior to implementing Dirac Live with a MiniDSP DDRC-88A, which is a 7.1 solution. For action movies, the extra channels would provide some improvement in the experience. For music, I never used the extra channels. Since down-sizing to a 7.1 configuration, I have never for a moment missed the Heights or Wide speakers.

Do height and wide matrixed channels really add anything? I've never been a fan of extra DSP. If it isnt discrete, I dont mess with it, am I missing out?

I do find that the height speakers add something when playing the right source material. I watched some scenes that occur during the final battle of the Avengers movie with and without the height speakers and it expanded the audio vertically. With that said it would not be that big a deal if I did not have those channels.

According to Audyssey the front wide channels make more of a difference in the sound, but I don't have those setup.

It's important to understand that there are no sonic differences between XLR and RCA connectors.

XLR are better at noise rejection, so if you have long cable runs and the signal and mains cables run parallel to each other, then XLR can be a better choice. But only if you have any noise issues. If you don't, then the XLR cable won’t bring any benefits.

The XLR connector itself is favored by some as being mechanically superior, but decent RCA cables also make a good connection IME.

XLR output is 6dB higher than RCA and this can be a blessing, a curse, or neither, depending on the rest of your setup.

In short, there is no reason inherent in the differences between XLR and RCA as to why either should be more, or less, suitable for your subwoofer connection, so use whichever you feel most comfortable with.

does this change if the XLR's are "fully balanced"....as in the ultra high end equipment?
I say this..because I have not seen a pre/pro under $11-12K that has fully balanced XLR's